The following article is an opinion piece.
In Bulloch County, it’s “us” versus “them” and I really don’t know how – or when – it came to be this way.
My time in the realm of both politics and journalism pre-dates my life in South Georgia. I’ve seen a thing or two. I’ve seen it all get uglier more often than not. But I’ve never seen anything quite like what’s happening in Bulloch County right now.
There’s a mentality of ‘us’ versus ‘them’ for the people in public office right now and it’s coming from the inside. It seeded itself in government meetings over the course of several months and has blossomed into an invasive species that’s choking out health growth. All puns intended. At first I thought it was because there’d never been so much opposition to issues and people before. I thought it was ignorance – in a good way – and a genuine uncertainty about how to deal with passionate discourse. But now I’m learning that it’s intentional.
The issue is rooted in a lack of accessibility to the people who claim to be public servants.
Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to interview people across political parties in various levels of government from U.S. Senate and Governor of Georgia to presidential candidates and those running for Congress, Lt. Governor, Agriculture Commissioner, Public Service Commission, Attorney General, State House, State Senate, and nearly every type of local level race.
Yet, reaching elected officials in my own community, the people who actually represent me, is what has become ‘the impossible.’
It’s my own county commissioners, three of whom are on the ballot this year (Roy Thompson, Curt Deal, and Jappy Stringer), and my school board representative (Heather Mims) who refused to do an interview. In fact, two of the three county commissioners didn’t even have the professional courtesy to respond, despite seeing the messages on their campaign social media accounts – not once, but twice.
These are the same interviews we successfully showcased in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022. The questions aren’t hard, topics are provided ahead of time so candidates can actually be prepared to answer the questions, and there’s no ‘gotcha’ angle. And yet – 2024 is the year of silence – the campaign season of no interviews, no meet & greets, and no candidate forums or debates.
After all, with the exception of the Tax Commissioner, every incumbent on the ballot declined to participate (or, once again, refused to provide the professional courtesy of an RSVP) to a Bulloch GOP-sponsored meet & greet and public forum in late March.
The current ‘powers that be’ have seemingly tried to turn the primary election into a popularity contest in which voters will make decisions based on ‘fan favorites’ instead of candidate positions on the issues. What a travesty and disservice to the people of the county. What a slap in the face to our representative Republic!
But it gets worse. Over the weekend, the incumbents announced that, as a slate, they will host a Meet & Greet. From state senate to district attorney to sheriff to county commission, the incumbents have decided they are one united front for Bulloch County. And because they’re teaming up together on their own turf, the peasants will be granted an opportunity to speak with them while enjoying a free snow cone.
Some of you may be thinking, ‘Well they’re having a public get together – what’s the big deal?’ The answer is that the voters deserve to have multiple opportunities to hear from candidates – incumbent and challengers – in a variety of different forums so they can make the most educated decisions possible. Voters deserve to have answers outside of the insulated vacuum-sealed safe space that a candidate creates for themselves.
Public servants get elected to make the difficult decisions, knowing full well that over the course of four years they will make some people unhappy. But they make decisions based on their beliefs and what they think is best for the people they represent. If they do that, and if they have any semblance of confidence in the decisions they’ve made, fielding questions should be easy.
Interestingly, and entertainingly, I spent much of now-Governor Brian Kemp’s term as Secretary of State criticizing how he ran the office in opinion pieces and in other outlets. That didn’t stop him from being the first person to agree to sit down with me when he ran for Governor. I was never denied access or an opportunity to interview him after that, either. I’ve disagreed with many of his decisions over the years, but I always respected the way that he didn’t cater to the media that served as a mouthpiece.
But it isn’t just about me and my access as a writer.
I am baffled by the idea that every political candidate ISN’T foaming at the mouth for exposure. Politics is quite literally the act of marketing yourself and what you believe in hopes of earning votes, which is why I’ve never understood the mentality of saying less is best. If anything, saying nothing is screaming, “I’m too good for that.” It’s even louder when you’re an incumbent.
Why do you want to serve, at any level, but not talk about serving?
How do you earn a vote if you don’t talk about your own votes?
Who reassured you that you owe absolutely nothing to the people you serve?
When did it become “us” versus “them”?
What a great article. If a candidate running for office refuses or answer questions that I hVe then he does not earn my vote. You work for the people of Bulloch County not the other way around. Don’t ever think you will get reelected because you are popular.
The actions of the current incumbents are the reason I will be voting against every incumbent in office this year .
I have been a resident of bulloch county for ten years now and I have watched it fall. Law enforcement out right told me they have the right to refuse service to me cause I had to call them multiple times in fact 30 plus times for theft. Theft that resulted in me losing everything I earned and inherited from my mother and fathers deaths. And no one cared. But if they would have investigated the thefts on miller street ext three people would possibly still be alive. Sherrifs collected checks for doing nothing while people like me lost everything we actually worked for and people lost their lives for coming home in the middle of a robbery
Every public servant should answer to their constituents.
If a public servant is unwilling to discuss the issues, unwilling to vote the way of those that elected them, and ignore the publics interests then that public servant should be removed from said office or at minimum voted out.
I thought news reports was supposed not be opinions but facts. You nor this “online paper” does that. It is all your opinions. Let’s get some people who can actual tell truth and no silence those who’s views they don’t agree with. These politicians probably didn’t want to do an intervention with a paper that is a joke and a given agenda to get Billy bob down the road elected.
You seemed to miss the first line of the article which reads ‘This is an opinion piece.’ All newspapers, news sites, and news outlets have a section for opinion pieces. They’re called ‘columns’ or ‘editorials.’ The journalistic standard for these pieces is to denote that they are opinion pieces, which this article does in the very first line. If you’d like more information on this, you can google ‘news vs. editorial’ or ‘opinion articles.’
I had a difficult time making out the rest of your comment because of (presumed) typos and errors, but if you’d like to reply back and clarify, I’d be happy to address any concerns you have. As a point of information, no politicians were asked to do an ‘intervention’ at any time.